CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – Trident United Way’s largest volunteer initiative is set to kick off Day Two of the annual ‘Days of Caring’ events across communities.
The ‘Days of Caring’ events connect volunteers with nonprofit organizations and schools to complete unfinished projects that are needed to serve the community better.
Trident United Way leaders say nonprofits often face challenges, like a lack of permanent staffing or funding for projects. Volunteers meet those needs on the workforce front as many community projects would not be completed otherwise.
The volunteer initiative runs for three days, having started Wednesday and going on through Friday. Leaders say the event increased from a one-day effort to three days over the years to impact as many community groups as possible.
Over 150 projects will be completed by 2,000 volunteers over the three days. These projects range from extra hands in community initiatives to construction and landscaping for organizations.
Trident United Way’s director of strategic volunteer engagement Katherine Torbush says the extra volunteers help nonprofit leaders focus on bettering their community service instead of these projects.
“There’s certain opportunities at nonprofits that aren’t as time-consuming as they [the volunteers] might otherwise think,” Torbush says. “You can just show up for an hour and get a bunch accomplished for that nonprofit which helps them throughout the week.”
Torbush says organizations anticipate the days of the event each year as many rely on the extra help.
“We also get lots of new nonprofits that maybe haven’t participated or haven’t even had the capacity to participate because it does take coordination on their part to have tons of volunteers come into their site,” Torbush says. “But they wait for that and they’re able to do that maybe not every year but every couple of years.”
Volunteers are needed for Trident United Way events year-round. Interested participants can find opportunities online .
Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.